Written Answers Wednesday 16 December 2009

Scottish Executive

Carers

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on the development of its carers strategy.

Shona Robison: The Carers Strategy for Scotland, including that relating to young carers, will be published during the first half of 2010. It is being developed in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and is being informed by the work of two steering groups (one on carers and one on young carers) and by a carers reference group comprising 10 carers.

Carers

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that people entitled to Carer’s Allowance receive it with the minimum of bureaucracy.

Shona Robison: This is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who are responsible for the administration and payment of the Carer’s Allowance. I have written to DWP ministers previously to convey concerns about the level of the Carer’s Allowance.

Culture

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public subsidy will be paid to the National Theatre for Scotland in 2010-11 and how much was paid in the two previous financial years.

Fiona Hyslop: The National Theatre for Scotland is due to receive £4.548 million in revenue funding for 2010-11. It received £4.38 million in 2008-09 and £4.490 million in 2009-10. It received additional financial support from the Scottish Government’s International Touring Fund amounting to £89,789 in 2008-09 and is eligible to apply to the International Touring Fund in 2010-11.

Ferry Services

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects the Scottish Ferries Review to refer to a Mallaig to Lochboisdale service.

Stewart Stevenson: The work being carried out within the Scottish Ferries Review includes an appraisal of routes that will determine whether a different configuration could be developed to better serve our island communities and contribute to our goal of increasing sustainable economic growth. Mallaig to Lochboisdale is amongst the routes being considered as part of that work.

Ferry Services

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the planned budget provision for ferries for 2010-11 contains a provision to commence a Mallaig to Lochboisdale ferry service.

Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government’s budget for the support of ferry services for 2010-11 contains no specific provision to commence a Mallaig to Lochboisdale ferry service.

Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much non-recurring finance it used to support recurring expenditure in 2008-09 and is using in 2009-10.

John Swinney: A small proportion of the funding to support the Scottish budget is non-recurring, for example, end-year flexibility moneys and income from asset sales.

Fuel Poverty

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have received Stage Three or Stage Four support from the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Alex Neil: The Energy Assistance Package adopts an holistic approach to tackle fuel poverty: helping to maximise household incomes though benefits and tax credit checks; reducing fuel bills by providing advice on wise energy use and access to social tariffs and improving the energy performance of the poorest performing Scottish homes by providing a package of measures for those most vulnerable to fuel poverty.

  Statistical Information is not held at constituency level.

Fuel Poverty

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost has been of the Stage Three and Stage Four measures issued under the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10, broken down by parliamentary constituency

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost per claimant has been of the Stage Three and Stage Four measures issued under the Energy Assistance Package in 2009-10, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Alex Neil: The cost of measures delivered under the Energy Assistance Package is analysed at national level.

  The Energy Assistance Package is supported by a budget of over £60 million in 2009-10, which is drawn from budgets for fuel poverty, tackling poverty and energy saving Scotland home renewables (formerly SCHRI). Fuel poverty budget spend to date is £17.133 million.

Fuel Poverty

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have had their electricity supply disconnected in the last 12 months as a result of outstanding debt, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have had their gas supply disconnected in the last 12 months as a result of outstanding debt, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government funds the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to provide free, comprehensive energy saving advice through the Energy Saving Scotland advice centres. Advisors signpost any callers reporting debt issues to appropriate money advice services.

  EST manage the Energy Assistance Package (EAP) for the Scottish Government. EAP is a holistic approach to tackling fuel poverty that addresses both the home and the householder and includes services to maximise income, reduce fuel bills and improve energy efficiency. The package is supported by a budget of over £60 million in 2009-10.

  Domestic energy suppliers have a number of licence obligations in relation to debt and disconnection and performance against these is monitored by the industry regulator Ofgem. Suppliers are required to report their performance to Ofgem on a quarterly and annual basis and data is published on the Ofgem website.

  The total number of gas and electricity disconnections in Scotland due to debt in 2008 and the first two quarters of 2009 is provided in the table below. The information is not available broken down by Scottish parliamentary constituency.

  

 
2008
January to March 2009
April to June 2009


Gas 
248
21
91


Electricity 
368
14
24

Justice

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8551 by Fergus Ewing on 25 January 2008, whether it considers that Inverness Sheriff Court continues to be fit for purpose.

Fergus Ewing: Inverness Sheriff Court continues to be fit for purpose. The sheriff court accommodation has been progressively modernised over the years and although split over adjacent buildings, the current volume of court business is manageable within this three court complex.

  I was able to view this progress during a recent visit to the sheriff court. In particular, I would like to place on record my appreciation for the work undertaken to improve the court experience for vulnerable witnesses including children.

NHS Hospitals

Jackson Carlaw (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29063 by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 November 2009, whether it can guarantee that the final cost of the New South Glasgow Hospitals and Laboratory project will not exceed £841.7 million.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-29002 and S3W-29003, on 24 November 2009, to S3W-29188 on 2 December 2009 and S3W-29190 on 1 December 2009; all of which address aspects of how NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are controlling the costs of the project. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Sectarianism

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which of its directorates will participate in the pilot project delivered by Nil by Mouth to tackle sectarianism in the workplace.

Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government funded Nil by Mouth to take forward this project on the basis that they would identify and work with organisations to deliver the project. This work is being co-ordinated by the Equalities, Social Inclusion and Sport Directorate. The Scottish Government is funding and will be monitoring the project and will not therefore be a participating workplace.

  The Scottish Government is and remains committed to tackling sectarianism. Work to tackle sectarianism involved many areas across Scottish Government and is part of a broader strategy of work to tackle all forms of religious intolerance and racism and, as confirmed in my answer to question S3W-29200 on 4 December 2009.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Suicide

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to meet the HEAT target to "reduce the suicide rate between 2002 and 2013 by 20%, supported by 50% of key frontline staff in mental health and substance misuse services, primary care, and accident and emergency being educated and trained in using suicide assessment tools/suicide prevention training programmes by (2010-2013)".

Shona Robison: NHS boards are required to implement suicide prevention training to meet the target for training of frontline staff. Support in relation to this training is available to boards from the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Delivery Team and from NHS Health Scotland. As part of this, the Scottish Government (SG) is preparing, with NHS Health Scotland, guidance outlining the responsibilities of SG, NHS Health Scotland and NHS boards with respect to delivering this target. This guidance, to issue shortly, will detail the support which can be made available to boards to help them reach the target.

  Data on boards’ progress is monitored regularly by the Scottish Government. The most recent data was published on 29 September 2009 at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/SuicidePreventionStats.

  On the basis of developments indicated by boards during recent Scottish Government Mental Health Implementation Review meetings, we expect to meet this target.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Environment

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it plans to install charging points for electric vehicles in the Parliament garage.

Alex Johnstone: : There is currently one electric charging point within the Parliament garage. The point was installed for an electric motorcycle used by Lothian and Borders Police.

Environment

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will assess the level of demand in the Parliament that could be served by a small pool of electric cars or scooters as an alternative to taxis and the costs and potential savings of such a pool.

Alex Johnstone: : The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) is due to undertake a travel to work survey before the end of April 2010 and as part of this survey we will ask a question about the demand for pool vehicles.

  The SPCB has previously provided a pool car for which there was insufficient demand to make it viable. In addition, the SPCB has assessed the demand for joining the city car club and found that there was insufficient demand to justify a corporate membership.